On Top Of The World
by feedmesmores
Summary: Marley Allen is an aspiring broadcast journalist who is interning at the WWE. She's working under Renee Young and making friends in the process. She has developed a crush on a certain member of The Shield that just so happens to have history with her "boss". Will she go down that dark path or will she keep things strictly professional? Dean/OC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello. I don't own any characters that are mentioned in this story except for Marley Allen, her family, and anyone who is clearly not a part of the WWE.**

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The sound of ChaChaLaLa blared from Marley's phone from the bedside table next to her. She groaned as she rolled over on her side and reached for her phone. She didn't bother to look at the caller ID before she swiped her thumb across the screen before putting it up to her ear.

"Hello?" she answered groggily. She didn't know who could possibly be calling her this early in the morning. Everyone who knew her knew that she wasn't a morning person and they knew better to call her before she had her first cup of coffee.

"Good morning. May I speak with Marley Allen, please?" the young lady on the other end responded.

"I'm Marley Allen. Can I ask who's calling?" She sat up and tried to stifle the yawn that was close to coming out of her mouth. She rolled out of her bed and made her way into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.

"Hi. This is Grace Thomas from World Wrestling Entertainment in Stamford, Connecticut and I wanted to call in regards to the internship you applied for a few months ago."

Marley had applied for an internship that she had found out through her adviser. She had just recently graduated from college with a broadcast journalism degree and she had been applying for jobs like crazy. No one was really looking to hire a college grad with no actual experience in broadcasting. "Can't get a job without experience, can't get experience without a job." Her adviser had pointed her in this direction because he thought that it would help her get on the track that she wanted to be on and he knew that wrestling was one of her favorite things. She applied at the beginning of the year and when she hadn't gotten a response from them, she just gave up on the idea all together.

She was definitely paying attention to the woman now, forgetting all about her coffee. She felt like she should probably sit down for this. "Um, yes? What about it?" She was beyond nervous and she felt like she might puke. She tried to calm herself down as she waited for whatever this woman was about to say and it wasn't working. There's a 50% chance this could be good new and there's a 50% chance this could be bad news. She could be closer to reaching her dream job or she could be back at square one.

"Well Miss Allen... I'm pleased to inform you that you're application has been reviewed and you've been accepted. We're sorry it took so long, but you will be joining the WWE family. If you still want to, that is."

"Wait. A-are you serious? Like this isn't some kind of prank? No one is going to jump out and yelled, "GOTCHA!" are they?" She couldn't believe what she had just heard. She figured her application had just been thrown into a pile with all the others and they were never touched again. She wasn't even sure they'd hire any new blood or that they'd be hiring interns.

Grace chuckled. "Yes ma'am. I'm very serious. No one is going to jump out and scream at you on our account. I've already emailed some additional information to you. You're going to need to be on the road with everyone as soon as possible. Can you arrange it so that you can get to a house show over the weekend? Stephanie would like to get you briefed on everything before Raw on Monday night." She explained.

"Um yeah. I can actually. I had already planned on taking my little sister to the show on Saturday." Marley tried to keep her cool and contain her excitement until she got off the phone. She didn't want to freak out and scare this poor girl.

"That's perfect. You can just bring your bags and whatever you'll need for the week. We'll work out who you'll be carpooling with and you'll know when you get there on Saturday." Grace paused for a minute, checking over her notes and making sure she didn't skip anything. "I think that's it. Anything I missed or left out will be in the email that I sent you. Anyway, I'm sure you have a lot to do between now and then, so I'll let you go. Welcome to the family, Miss Allen. We look forward to having you aboard."

"Okay. Thank you so much for your call. I can't wait." She quickly tapped the end button on her phone and proceeded to freak out. She excitedly jumped up and down like a spazz around her apartment. She knew that if anyone saw her right now, she'd be extremely embarrassed, but she didn't care. Her freak out had only lasted a few minutes before she realized that tomorrow was Saturday. She groaned at her realization and plopped down on her couch. Oh yeah, she definitely had a lot to do between now and then. The first thing she had to do was go see her parents.

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**Um hi. This is my first story. This idea just kinda popped in my head the other night and I've been trying to figure out how to write this out. This first chapter was just to introduce you guys to Marley. (Yes her ringtone is Fandango's theme music. I love it and it just sounds like it'd be a good ringtone tbh) I didn't wanna jump into anything without y'all knowing what's going on with this character. Please let me know if I should just scrap this idea or keep going. Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: i don't own anyone but Marley/Family/People who are obviously mine **

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"Jess, I wish I could bring you backstage but I can't." It had been a month since Marley started this internship and she didn't want to mess it up by bringing her fangirl of a sister backstage. There was no doubt that the girl would either mark out over everyone or try to flirt with her favorite wrestlers.

"Fine. But you're taking me to whatever bar they're going to after the show so I can creep there"

"You are a creep." She mumbled under her breath.

Jess gave her sister a look. "I heard that and just for that, you now have to buy my drinks all night."

Marley groaned. "You realize I could get in trouble for buying alcohol for you, right?"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. Besides, it's not like you're buying alcohol for a couple of teenagers. I'll be able to buy my own drinks in four months." she called out from the bathroom. She had been in there for at least 45 minutes, which ended up making Marley do her hair and makeup with the camera on her phone. So if she ended up looking like shit, it was going to be Jess's fault.

"Just hurry up. I have to be at the arena soon." Marley wandered around the room, making sure she had everything she needed for the night. She slipped her phone and her ID badge into her back pocket and packed everything she needed else she needed into her laptop bag.

"JESS COME ON ALREADY" she yelled from outside the bathroom. She started to barge into the bathroom when Jess finally stepped out. "I'm ready. Calm down."

"Okay, let me just lay down some ground rules for tonight. Number 1. When we go to bar after the show, if you end up hooking up with a wrestler, you are _not_ allowed to bring him back to this room. This is my room and when we make it back, I'd like to sleep." Jess rolled her eyes. "I mean it Jess. I'm not being sexiled from my room. I have an early morning tomorrow."

"Rule number 2. If you do hookup with a wrestler, I don't want to know who it is and I don't want them to know that I'm your sister. I don't need to hear locker room talk about how Randy Orton boned the intern's sister." She didn't want to know about anything that the girl was planning on getting herself into tonight. She was just going to have a drink or two and call it a night.

"Okaaaay. I got it, boss man." Her sister said sarcastically. Jess didn't really see what the big deal was, but she would try to respect her sister's wishes.

"I'm just saying. If you embarrass me, I'm never bringing you back." Marley threw her bag over her shoulder and the two headed out the door.

They made their way to the elevator and waited for it to open. The elevator chimed and the doors opened. When they stepped in, they noticed they weren't alone. Marley could feel her sister poking her in the arm, trying to get her to pay attention to the man that they were in the elevator with.

"You're the new intern, aren't you?" The man finally spoke up.

"Uh yeah. I'm Marley." Jess coughed quiet enough for just Marley to hear it. "And this is my sister, Jess." Jess sent the men both a flirty smile.

"I'm Dolph. I've seen you around backstage a lot. You're usually not far behind Renee."

Marley nodded. "Yeah. That's me. Renee's little shadow."

The elevator chimed again, signaling that they had reached their destination.

"It was nice to meet you both. I'll see you girls later." Dolph winked as he stepped off the elevator and then headed out the door.

"If you're going to freak out, can you at least wait until we get in the car?" They made their way to the rental car and Marley threw her bag in the backseat. She got into the driver's seat and waited before she started the car. "You can freak out now."

Jess took that as her cue to scream at the top of her lungs. "OH MY GOD! I WAS JUST IN AN ELEVATOR WITH DOLPH ZIGGLER!"

Marley waited for her sister's freak out to settle down. "Are you good now?" Her sister nodded enthusiastically. "You know if you act like that when I take you to the bar, no one will want to come near you."

"I know. I'll have it all out of my system by then. Scouts honor." She held up her fingers as if she was a boy scout.

Marley pulled out of the hotel parking lot and made the way to the arena. She pulled into the designated lot at the arena and parked her rental car. "Okay so, you're just going to walk around this corner and the entrance to the arena should be literally right there. I'll give you the keys and I'll just meet you back here after the show, okay?"

"Yes mom. I also won't take candy from strangers or talk to people I don't know. Do I need to write your phone number on my arm in case I get lost too?" Marley glared at her sister. They got out of the car and Marley grabbed her bag from the backseat. "Hey smartass. Heads up." Marley tossed the car keys at her sister, but they fell to the ground. "Jess!" her sister was pointing at something behind her and she seemed starstruck. "What is your deal?" Marley bent down and picked up her keys from the ground.

When she stood back up, Jess was still pointing at something behind her so she turned around to see what her sister was starstruck over. When she did, she was met with the three members of The Shield. "Well that makes sense." Marley turned back around to face her sister and she was still gawking at them. She reached over and pinched her on the arm. "Ow! What was that for?" Jess started rubbing the pinched spot on her arm. "Stop staring at them or they're gonna come over here." she whispered. "Too late." Marley looked over her shoulder and noticed them walking towards them. "Shit."

"Marley!" Seth Rollins called out as they reached the two women.

"Hi Seth." She was excited to see him, but less excited to see one of the two that followed behind him.

"Who's your friend here?" He asked with a grin. He was always most friendly to her out of the three. He never treated her like she was lower than him on the totem pole and she appreciated that. She never really got time to talk to Roman backstage, but he was always nice to her when he did speak. And then there was Dean... yeah let's not get into that right now.

"Oh uh, this is my younger sister, Jess. She's here to watch the show tonight." she explained. "Jess, this is Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose." she motioned to each of them as she said their names.

"Trust me, I know who they are." she gave them a flirty wave. "Hi boys."

Marley just shook her head. "Alright you. Time to go."

"What about the car keys?"

"You lost your key privileges. Go!." She turned her around and lightly shoved her towards the front of the arena. After she sent her sister off, she sighed on relief. For a few hours, Jess was no longer her responsibility.

She turned back around and the guys were still there. "Don't you three have somewhere important to be?"

"Nah, not really. I wanted to come over here and pester you. This one wanted to come over here and hit on your sister. " Seth said as he motioned towards Ambrose. "And Ro was just along for the ride."

Marley glared at Dean. "You realize you were like 8 years old when my sister was born, right? That's just creepy." He shrugged. "Just stay away from my little sister, alright?"

"I can't make any promises."

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**hi there! I want to thank everyone who has reviewed and followed this story so far. So thank you soooo much. It really means a lot to me. The next chapter will be the night out, because that'll be fun and this is really where her friendships started. But after that I'm gonna skip a few months, that way we can really get this story going!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I only own Marley and Jess Allen. blahblahblah. I'm sorry this has taken forever. I had this written out a few days ago but it didn't save when I typed it out on here and I had to rewrite everything, which is annoying and I couldn't remember exactly what I had written and yeah. So this chaptsr probably sucks, but I already have the majority of the next chapter written so it should be up pretty soon after this one. **

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Smackdown tapings were done for the week and everyone was getting ready to leave the arena. It had been a stressful few days for everyone and they were all looking forward to a couple of days off. Renee and Marley said their goodbyes to the superstars and divas that they passed by on the way to pack up their own things.

"So, are you actually coming out with us tonight?" Renee asked as they were packing up their things for the night.

"Yeah. My sister wants to try to hook up with someone and I promised I'd buy her drinks tonight." They walked and talked as they made their way down the hallway towards the exit.

"I think this will be good for you. You'll have fun." Renee declared. Ever since Marley had gotten this internship, she had been all work and no play. She was honestly surprised that the girl was even coming out tonight. She'd have to thank her sister later.

Marley shrugged. "Maybe." It's not that Marley didn't like to go out and have fun, it's just that she wasn't in the mood for it tonight. Maybe that would change after she got some alcohol in her.

"You told your sister who was off-limits, right?"

"She reads dirtsheets, so she kinda knows who is with who. I just told her that she better not go after anyone who is married." The exited the building and continued talking as they made their way over to Renee's rental car.

"Don't go after anyone who is married or anyone who is John Cena." Marley laughed.

"Trust me, if he was single, she'd be all up on that. She loves Cena but she won't try anything because she's scared of Nikki." They reached Renee's rental car, and she was soon packing her things into the trunk of her car.

"What are you gonna do if she brings a guy back to your room?" She questioned as she casually leaned against her car.

"Oh, I gave her strict rules and one of them was that she wasn't allowed to bring anyone back to my room. If she wants to hookup with a dude, they're going to his room. I have an early morning tomorrow."

"Oh yeah?"

Marley nodded. "Yeah. I've got a meeting with Steph tomorrow, so I"ve gotta be in Stamford by lunch time."

"Yeesh. Any idea what she wants to talk to you about?" Renee was curious. She had a meeting with Steph tomorrow as well and she wondered if their meetings had to do with the same thing.

"I have no idea actually. I'm really nervous about it." Nervous was an understatement. She was terrified. Sure, she had one on one meetings with Stephanie before, but something about having to fly to Stamford for this meeting made her more and more nervous.

"Eh, I'm sure it's nothing." Renee shrugged, slamming the trunk of the car down.

"I hope so. Maybe it's just a meeting to check in and see how I'm doing and stuff."

"Probably. You've been doing great, so I wouldn't worry about it." Renee walked over to the driver side of car and got in. She rolled the window down so the girls could still talk. "I'll see you in a little bit?"

"Yeah. We'll probably head to hotel first since I'm sure my sister will want to change and then we'll be on our way."

"Don't take too long or you'll miss all the fun!"

"We won't!" She called out as she made her way to her own car. She saw Renee stick her hand out the window and wave as she pulled out of the parking lot.

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When they got to the hotel, Jess practically threw Marley into one of her super tight dresses. It was a little black number that had long lace sleeves and it came down just about the middle of her thigh. She didn't hate the dress and it's not far from what she would normally wear out, but she just didn't want to show too much in front of her coworkers. She didn't even think she should be mingling with any of the people, but she had already told Renee that they were coming out and maybe it would do her a little good to get out and socialize.

After Marley got dressed, Jess also insisted that she do her sister's hair and makeup, which she reluctantly agreed to. She sat there as her sister curled and teased her hair until it wouldn't tease and curl anymore.

Jess applied way more makeup than Marley would ever wear, but she had to admit, it didn't look half bad. Her sister had applied a nice dark red lipstick to her lips and she perfected the smokey eye look, something Marley just couldn't get. Jess topped off the look with some mascara that made her eyelashes look longer and fuller.

"Daaaaamn girl. You look hot! I should drop out of college and become a makeup artist."

Marley rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure you can actually go to school for that." She stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. After it was all said and done, she did look good but she didn't look like herself. "You realize you now have like 10 minutes to get ready, right? You spent way too much time doing all of this for me. Especially since I didn't ask for it."

"Please, I don't have to doll myself up like that. Confidence is key, my good sister." Jess announced as she changed out of her outfit and into a tight-fitting red dress.

"Yeah okay. If I don't have confidence, I think I might be in the wrong business." She slipped into her heels that would be most likely coming off as soon as they got seated at the club.

"I'm just saying. You need all the help you can get." Marley glared at her sister. "I'm kidding! You need to lighten up. I just figured it might help you meet a guy or something. You're too wound up and I think if we got you laid, you'd be much happier." Jess sat on the bed, strapping up her own pair of heels.

Marley rolled her eyes. "I'm not having this conversation with you. Can we just go already?" The girls grabbed their things and made their way down to the rental car.

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When the duo finally reached the club, they were immediately met with a somewhat tipsy Renee.

"Marley! You're here!" She yelled over the music. "You must be the sister. I'm Renee." She turned to Jess and hugged her like she had known her forever.

"You're really friendly when you've been drinking, aren't you?" Jess asked her. Renee pulled away from the hug and just shrugged.

"C'mon. I want you to meet some people." She grabbed both if the girls' arms and dragged them towards a table.

They reached a table that was full of familiar faces. "Guys! I have someone I want you to meet." The men focused their attention on the three women in front of them. "This is Marley. She's the new intern that's been shadowing me for the past month." Renee motioned toward the girl. "Marley, this is Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, and Dolph Ziggler."

"Hi. It's nice to finally meet you guys. And Dolph, it's nice to see you again." Dolph nodded and smiled at the girl. "And this is my sister, Jess. She's just visiting me for the day." Jess gave the men a flirtatious smile, which just made Marley roll her eyes.

"Why don't you girls sit down and join us for a little bit? Let us get to know our new coworker a little better." Cody suggested.

"Sure." Marley took a seat on the end next to Dolph, while Jess squeezed her way in-between Cody and Wade. It was decided that before they started playing 20 questions with the girl, that they needed shots. Since Marley was sitting at the end on the booth, she volunteered herself to go get the shots.

She was headed towards the bar when she ran smack dab into a hard chest. "Shit." She looked up to see the friendly face of Seth Rollins. "Oh thank god."

"Hey, intern. I'm surprised that you actually came out tonight."

"There's a first time for everything, I guess." They reached the bar and Marley ordered the shots for the table.

"So, you having fun yet?" He asked as he ordered himself another beer.

"I don't know yet. I just got here like ten minutes ago and then I volunteered for shot duty." The shots were placed in front of her on a tray. She went to dig out a couple of bills to pay for the shots when Seth's hand shot out to stop her.

"I got this. Don't worry."

Marley shook her head. "I can't let you do that."

Seth told the bartender to put the shots on his tab. "It's your first night out since you got here. Let me do something nice for a friend."

She didn't want to argue with him about it, because "_Hey, it's free drinks._". "Fine. But let me buy you a drink later to make it even."

Seth nodded his head. "I'll hold you to that. Come find us when you're done hanging out with those guys and we'll introduce you to more people."

"Will do." She grabbed her tray of shots and made her way back to the table.

"Shots for everyone!" She exclaimed and the guys cheered.

#############

A few drinks and several shots later, Marley was feeling it.

When she was finished playing twenty questions with the boys, Renee was back to dragging her around the club. Renee introduced her to a few of the divas, including Summer Rae, Alicia Fox and Nikki Bella. She hit it off with Nikki rather quickly and they made plans to go shopping together the next week.

The alcohol made her very talkative and friendly, which surprised a lot of people. Usually when they saw her wandering around backstage, she was quiet and kept to herself. This night showed everyone a different side of Marley and everyone loved it. It was nice to see her get out if her shell. This night seemed to be exactly what she needed.

Jess was also on the buzzed side, but she wasn't as far gone as Marley was.

"Okay, girls. We have a few more people to meet and that'll be all for the night." She grabbed their arms ans drug them over to the table where The Shield were sitting. Marley immediately sat down next to Seth. Roman and Dean greeted the ladies.

"Hey buddy! Thanks for the shots earlier."

He chuckled. "No problem, pal."

"Oh, so you guys already know each other?" Renee asked as she took a seat as well.

Marley nodded. "Seth is my best friend. Besides Nikki" She reached over and gave him a side hug.

"That's right. We're best friends now." He placed his arm around her shoulders.

Jess spotted Randy Orton at the bar and she was determined to hit that. "Hey Renee? Do you think you can introduce me to that beautiful man?" Renee turned her head towards the bar.

"Randy? Oh yeah. You look like you're just his type. C'mon" Renee got up from her seat and headed towards the bar.

Jess stopped in her tracks and turned back towards Seth. "Hey, do you guys think you can get her back to her room safely? I don't want anything to happen to her while she's like this."

Seth nodded. "I won't let anything happen to her. I swear." Jess thanked him and followed behind Renee

"Roman! You have such pretty hair. Will you let me braid it?" Marley asked.

Roman, who was sitting across the table from her, chuckled. "How much have you had to drink tonight?"

"Uh... A lot."

Roman just shook his head at the girl. Dean, who was sitting across from Seth, was unamused at the girl. He just wanted to have a guys night with his friends and Renew had just dropped her off with them. They weren't babysitters.

A few more drinks later, and Marley was gone. Seth had excused himself a little while ago so he could take this phone call from his girfriend. Roman told him to take the call and that he would make sure Marley got back to her room safely.

"Alright, babygirl. We're cutting you off."

"Noooooo" She pouted.

"That's not going to work on me. C'mon." He stood up from his chair and offered his hand for her.

She huffed. "Fine." She grabbed her bag and took Roman's hand.

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**A/N: yeah so I said I was going to skip ahead time wise after this chapter, but I already have the next one written and the outlines for a few more a chapters. So the time jump will be a little delayed. Also, it's obvious that this happened before the shield split, but the time jump will after they've split. We'll basically be in present time soon, which is good for me because somethings that I already had outlined work well with somethings that have happened. So yeah! Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I don't own anyone but Marley/Her family/my ideas.**

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Marley woke up the next morning to the extremely loud sound of her alarm. She groaned and reached over to hit her phone a few times until the noise stopped.

She was for sure hungover. Her head was throbbing and the sun shining in through the window was not helping. She had a meeting later and going to that hungover was going to be fun. She told her sister to not let her get to this point last night, but of course she should've known better. She brought her arm up and used it to cover her eyes.

Five minutes later, the alarm went off again.

"Will you turn that damn thing off?" She heard a muffled voice coming from next to her. Her eyes quickly shot open.

"What the.." She rolled onto her side and she came face to face with the devil himself.

"Ambrose, why are you in my bed? Oh god. Did we.." She trailed off as she quickly lifted up her covers. She let out a sigh of relief. They were both fully clothed. "Thank god." She noticed that he seemed to have fallen back asleep. Half of his face was buried into the pillow, his mouth open slightly. He looked kind of adorable. Wait, Marley no. Bad Marley.

"Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer." He mumbled. She considered snapping a picture of him to use as blackmail that she was sure she would need in the future, but she decided against it. She didn't need anyone going through her phone and finding a picture of a sleeping Ambrose.

"Ambrose, why are you in my bed?" She asked him again.

"You're actually in my bed." She sat up and looked around the room. All these hotel rooms looked the same, but one thing that was different from her own room, was the fact that there was a sleeping Samoan in the other bed a few feet away from them.

"And before you go freaking out anymore, we were going to take you back to your own room because you were far too gone, but you couldn't find your key card. So we let you crash here. Nothing happened. You did hit on Roman a few times. And you asked if you could braid his hair. Then you passed out on my bed."

"And you couldn't have slept on the couch?"

"It's my bed."

She pulled the covers back and hopped out of the bed. "I'm just going to use your bathroom and then I'll be on my way." She grabbed her phone from the bedside table and quietly tip toed into the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and man, did she look rough. Her hair was sticking up all over the had dark circles under her eyes where her eye makeup wore off and she had dried drool on the side of her mouth.

"That's really cute, Mar." She grabbed a washcloth that was on counter and she soaked it in water. She tried to wipe off as much of the smeared makeup as she could. "At least now you look less like a zombie." She gathered her hair up and tossed it up into a messy bun that sat on the top of her head.

She quietly exited the bathroom. She noticed that Ambrose's bed was now empty, but she didn't see him anywhere. She didn't want to just leave without letting him know, but she couldn't stick around and wait for him to reappear.

She found a notepad and a pen in one of the bedside drawers and she scribbled down a note.

_**"Thanks for letting me crash with you guys last night. I owe you both a beer or something. -Marley"**_

She found her shoes on the table and she grabbed them on her way out. She quietly pulled the door closed as she exited the room, since she didn't want to wake Roman. She let out the breath she was holding in when she stood in the hallway. She looked up and down the hallway, making sure no one spotted her leaving the room. No doubt someone would think she was doing the Walk of Shame.

When she was sure that no one saw her, she made her way down the hallway to her own room. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" She froze in her spot when she heard the voice behind her. She knew that voice all too well. "Fuck." She cursed under her breath.

She turned around to face the source of the noise. "Good morning, Seth." Curse him and his early morning workouts.

"Did I just see you come out of someone's room, still dressed in last nights clothes?" He saw the room she came out of and he knew who was currently occupying said room.

"It's not what it looks like." She tried to explain, but he cut her off.

"Your secret is safe with me, intern." And with that, he winked and walked away.

After that, she ran straight to her room. She couldn't risk running into anyone else. She reached her door and she quickly realized she didn't have her bag or her key card on her. "Of course this shit happens to me. Of course." She said to herself. She could call her sister to let her in, but she'd still need her bag, which was most likely still in the room down the hall.

She took a deep breath and made her way back down the hallway. She reached the room that she had just emerged from and she knocked on the door. No answer. She waited a few moments before she knocked again. No answer. She brought her fist up to knock on the door again, but the door soon opened.

"What do yo- Oh. Did you forget something?" A shirtless Dean Ambrose stood at the door.

She couldn't help but stare at him.

Marley was snapped out of her daze when Dean started snapping his fingers in front of her face. "Marley!"

"Huh what?" She was staring at him, and he had caught her. She had to get out of there and she had to get out of there fast.

"See something you like?" He smirked at her and as glared at him.

"Yeah, my bag over there." She pushed him aside and entered the room. Luckily, her eyes found her bag hanging off the back of one of the chairs in the room. She retrieved her bag and quickly bolted out of the room without saying a word.

He chuckled and closed the door behind him.

#########

Marley sat in front of her door, waiting for her sister. She had emptied out her bag several times and she had no luck finding her key card. It had to be in the room. Some good it's doing her in there. She called Jess at least ten times and the girl was not answering her phone. She texted Renee and a few others, asking if they had seen her and the general response was "Not since last night."

So she camped herself right in front of the door, waiting for her to do her own Walk of Shame and let her into the room.

Marley was leaning against the door with her eyes closed when she felt herself fall backwards. "What the fuck?"

"Marley? What are you doing?" Jess reached out to help her sister up.

"Have you been in here this whole time?" She stood up with the help of her sister and brushed the dirt off of herself.

"Uh yeah. Where else would I have been? The real question is, where have YOU been?"

"I called you like twenty times. Why didn't you answer your phone?"

Jess went over to where her phone was charging and noticed the missed calls. "Oh. I must've had it on silent. My bad.."

Marley groaned. She had an hour and a half to shower, get packed and get to the airport. There's no way she'd get there on time.

She rummaged through her suitcase, looking for her bottle of Tylenol. "There it is." She popped two out of the bottle and grabbed a bottle of water from the mini fridge. She downed both pills with a gulp of water.

"So, are you going to tell me where you were or do I get to pretend like you hooked up with a wrestler so I can go back and have something exciting to tell my friends?"

"You're not going to tell them about your conquest?" Marley went back to digging into her suitcase. She was looking for something comfy to wear for her flight and she would change before she got to her meeting.

"That didn't go as planned. Dude turned out to be a jerk, so I bailed."

"That's not like you at all."

Jess shrugged. "It's whatever. Enough about me and more about you. Where did you sleep last night?"

Marley really didn't want to tell her sister where she had been. She knew Jess would make a huge deal about it and she didn't have time for that this morning. "Oh. I just stayed the night with Nikki. Nothing exciting." She was sure that would get her off her back. "I need to shower, so I'm gonna do that."

15 minutes later, Marley was clean as a whistle. She stepped out if the bathroom, her hair wrapped in a towel and dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a tank top.

"I know you're lying about staying with Nikki, but fine. Whatever. Don't tell me where you were. That's cool. I'm just going to back and tell my friends that you hooked up with Wade Barrett."

"You do that then." Marley grabbed her hairdryer from her suitcase and made her way back into the bathroom. She unwrapped her hair from the towel and quickly began blow drying her hair. When she was satisfied with her hair, she threw it up into a sleek ponytail. She didn't have time to do anything else with it.

She wrapped the cord around the handle of the blowdryer and packed it away into her suitcase. She packed away the rest of her things, putting her makeup and the outfit for her meeting on the top, that way she didn't have to dig around in her suitcase for it when she got to Stamford.

She let out a sigh as she zipped up her suitcase. She was surprised she even got everything to fit. She was a terrible packer and she could never get everything to fit the way it needed to.

She sat down on the bed and slipped her tennis shoes on. She walked around the room, doing a once over to make sure she didn't leave anything behind. She found her phone charger still plugged into the wall and she threw that into her purse. She now had everything and was ready to go.

"Are you ready?" Marley asked her sister. Jess would be driving her to the airport and then she'd be on her way back home.

Jess nodded. "Let's head out."

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**A**/**N: please review/follow/favorite. You feedback means a lot to me!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I don't know anything but Marley. blahhhhhhhhhblaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhblaaaaaaah**

**I'm going to be totally honest here. I didn't proofread this chapter as well as I should have. I mainly just checked for spelling and not grammar, so I apologize if there are errors in this. **

* * *

Marley slid her sunglasses over her eyes as she stepped out of the airport. The sun was unnecessarily bright today and she felt like her head might explode. She had her rental car keys in hand and she was ready to go.

Other than the sun that just wouldn't get out if Marley's face, the weather in Hartford was nice. Or at least it was today.

Marley loaded her things into the rental car and her journey to Stamford began. According to the GPS on her phone, she would be in Stamford in about 20 minutes, which meant she would get there just in time for her meeting.

She fiddled with the radio, trying to find something good to listen to, but she came up short. She ended up settling on a station that played Top 40 that was currently playing a Justin Timberlake song. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel along to the beat.

Twenty five minutes later, she arrived at WWE Headquarters.

She entered the building and once she showed the receptionist her ID, she instructed her where to go.

She reached the fourth floor of the building, where Stephanie's office was and checked in with her assistant. She sat down in the waiting area and waited to be called back.

"Mrs. McMahon will see you now." Her assistant informed her.

She thanked her and made her way to Stephanie's office. When she reached the door, she knocked. "Come in."

Marley entered the room and Stephanie stood up from her seat. "Hi Marley. It's good to see you." They reached out and shook each other's hands.

"It's good to see you too, Mrs. McMahon."

"Please, Have a seat and call me Stephanie." She motioned to the chair that sat on the other side of her desk as she sat down in her own chair. Marley took her seat.

"So, I'm sure you're wondering why I called you in for this meeting." Marley nodded.

"We're very pleased with the work you've been doing backstage. We know you haven't been able to do much, but I've seen you around backstage and I know you've been shadowing Renee and helping her out when she needs it."

"We haven't discussed this with Renee yet, but we're going to be moving her up in a few months. She's going to be taking a little more responsibility that we know she can handle. She's going to be doing the pre-shows for the pay per views and we're letting her do the commentary for Superstars with Tom. This means we're going to move Byron up to do the Raw pre-shows with Booker and Alex."

"Okay... What does this have to do with me?" Marley questioned.

"Well," Steph grinned. "We want you to replace Byron on the App, since he'll be here doing the pre-shows. And we want you to do the interviews for the pre-shows that Renee would normally do."

"Wait. Are you guys offering me an actual job?"

Steph nodded. "We are. Everyone we talked to had spoken very highly of you and I know you have the personality for this. I think you'd be a great addition to the team."

Marley was speechless. When she showed up today, she expected that they were going to end her internship and she'd have to go back home. Being offered an actual job after being here for a month seemed crazy. Maybe they were just desperate. Even if that was the case, she didn't care. This is exactly what she wanted and exactly where she wanted to be.

"Wow." That was the only world she could get out of her mouth.

"So, what do you say? Do you want to work for us?" Steph asked.

"I think it'd be stupid for me not to accept this offer. So yeah, of course."

"Great! Now, I'm going to need you to keep this in the down low, okay? We haven't told Renee or Byron yet." Steph explained.

Marley nodded. "I got it. My lips are sealed."

"There is one thing though... We are going to send you down to NXT on your days off. That way you can start practicing and getting used to being in front if the camera. We're going to let the NXT Universe get to know you a little bit before we throw you to the wolves." She winked.

"That sounds good. I've heard nothing but good things about NXT. When do you want me to go down there?"

"I figured we'd let you have the rest of this week off and we'd send you down there next week. We'll have a contract ready for you when you get to the arena on Monday."

"Thank you so much, Stephanie. You won't be disappointed." She assured her.

"I hope not. I like you, Marley and I think you have a bright future here."

The two women said their goodbyes and as Marley left, she couldn't wipe the smile off her face.

########

Monday finally rolled around and Marley couldn't wait to get to the arena. As soon as she could get there and meet with Steph again, the closer she'd be to her dream.

The first thing she did when she got to the arena was find Stephanie's office. They talked for a few minutes with Hunter about her new position, and before she knew it, she was signing her name on the dotted line of a WWE contract.

She hadn't talked to any of her friends over the weekend. As soon as she got home from Stamford, she passed out for twelve hours. Traveling really tires you out. She spent the rest of her week relaxing. She even treated herself to a mani/pedi.

She had made plans to hang out and go shopping with Nikki this week, and since the girls hadn't talked all weekend, she wanted to find her now. She hoped that she didn't have to run around the arena looking for it, and hoped that she would find her at her second stop of the night, Catering.

Luckily, when she reached catering, she found that it was somewhat empty except for Nattie and The Bellas.

"Marley!" Nikki called out and waved her over.

Marley walked over to where Nikki was sitting down with her sister.

"Oh Brie, this is Marley. The girl I was telling you about."

"OH! You're the new intern right?"

Marley nodded. "That would be me. I don't know when I got so popular around here, though."

Brie laughed. "Word travels fast around here. Anyway, it's nice to finally meet you. Why don't you sit down with us?"

"Sure. Just let me get something to drink." Marley went to grab a bottle of water from the cooler. When she turned back around, she noticed that Dean was standing right next to their table.

"Ambrose, you look great." Nattie spoke as she sat down next to Brie.

"Thank you." He was standing next to their table, eating a piece of chicken that was on his plate.

Marley took a seat next to Nikki and tried to avoid eye contact with Dean. She started picking at the label that was on her water bottle and found that it was more interesting than the conversation that was going on. She felt awkward being around him since she slept in his bed the other night. She had no reason to, they didn't do anything but she was just embarrassed. She had planned on avoiding him for the rest of her life, but apparently the universe had other plans tonight.

"You look like you've leaned out." She commented.

"You were totally checking him out!" Brie called her out and Nattie just shrugged and laughed.

Dean shook his head and tossed his paper plate in the trash. "I'll see you ladies later." As he was walking out of catering, Marley let out the breath she had been holding in that she hoped went unnoticed.

"Oh Nat, this is Marley. She's the new intern."

Nattie wiped her hands off on her napkin and stuck out her hand. "Oh! It's nice to meet you!" Marley reached out and shook her hand.

"Likewise." Marley smiled at the blonde.

"Are you enjoying yourself back here?" Brie asked.

"Yeah, I am. Renee has been very helpful. And I've met some cool people backstage." She explained. "It's been pretty fun so far."

"Oh, you're working with Renee?" Marley nodded. "Just don't tell her about me "flirting" with Ambrose."

"Wait, why does it matter?" She was confused. Why would Renee care about Nattie flirting with Dean?

"You don't know?" She shook her head. "They're like friends with benefits or whatever. She has an arrangement with a few of the guys, actually." Nikki stated while Brie nodded in agreement.

"But Nattie's married. Why would she freak out about that?"

"She's very ...territorial. I mean, obviously we have nothing to worry about, because if she gets out of hand, I could break her in half." Marley was certain that Nattie could break Renee in half and probably not even break a sweat while doing it.

"That seems a little crazy." Marley had considered telling Renee about how her night ended, since they haven't talked since they went their separate ways that night, but the way Nattie and Bellas were speaking, it made her reconsider that. If she freaked out about a married woman complimenting Dean, there's no telling what she might do if she found out that they slept in the same bed, even though nothing happened between the two.

"It is, but it's not an uncommon thing around here. Girls get possessive over their boy toys when they have no right to. If they haven't agreed to be exclusive, then it's fair game. None of them should be surprised that everyone is hooking up with everyone." Brie explained.

"Well, I have nothing to worry about then. I didn't come here to hook up with anyone." The girls laughed.

"Oh Marley. That's what they all say, but it'll happen eventually. Trust us. We're all with guys in the company. Although, does Nattie really count since she and TJ have been together since they went through puberty?" Nattie playfully smacked Nikki on the arm and they laughed.

"Just stick with us and you'll be fine. We'll keep you out of trouble." Nattie assured her. Marley didn't believe that for a second. They would probably get her into more trouble than she could handle, but she had two new friends and the more allies she had backstage, the better.

"Buuuuut, if you're looking to hookup with any of these guys, we'd can totally help you with that." Nikki stated with a huge grin on her face.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you soooooooooooo much to those of you who reviewed the last chapter and hello to you new followers and favoriters. I'm glad to have you along for the ride!**

**I know I mentioned something about a time jump, and it's going to happen, I'm just not sure when yet. I do wanna write about her being down at NXT for a little bit, because I have some ideas for that.**

**I'm also going to probably be using some scenes from Total Divas, like the one I used in this chapter. So yeah, there's that.**

**Also, I thought about posting polyvore outfits on my profile for each chapter for Marley's outfits. Is that something you guys would be interested in seeing or nah? Let me know!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I only own Marley. I don't own anything WWE related. **

* * *

Marley had only been in Florida for a few hours and she was already in love. It was going to be hard to get her to leave in a few weeks.

She pulled into the parking lot of the performance center. She was extremely nervous and excited. She was going to be meeting some very important people and the future of the WWE today. She was pretty familiar with everyone, since she always made time to watch NXT. She just hoped that she didn't end up embarrassing herself.

Marley checked herself out in her mirror, making sure her hair was good and that her makeup hadn't smudged. She was good to go. She stepped out of the car and adjusted her dress. She pulled it down after it had ridden up while she was in car.

She took a deep breathe before opening the door. "Here goes nothing." She opened the door and stepped inside, the door slamming behind her.

The building was huge. When you walked in, you were met with a three rings. Each of the rings were occupied. One had a couple of people working on submission moves, one had a few girls running the ropes and the other had two men who looked like they were running through a match. There were also locker rooms and a weight room nearby.

"Marley!" A voice boomed across the room. This made everyone stop and look over at where she was, which caused the trainers to yell at then to get back to work. Everyone wanted to know who this mystery girl that Triple H was calling over and if she was competition. Little did they know, she wasn't.

She made her way over to where Hunter was sitting down, observing the talent. The performance center and NXT were his babies and he wanted to make sure that they were the best.

"Hi, Hunter. I'm surprised to see you here. Shouldn't you be in Indianapolis?" He gestured for her to sit down next to him and she did.

"The perks of having a private jet. I flew in this morning and I'm leaving right after this. I had a couple of things to take care of down here and I wanted to make sure you got here safely." The two made small talk while they waited for everyone to finish up in the rings. Hunter wanted to introduce her to everyone at once.

"Hey guys, I want to introduce you all to someone." He was now standing in the middle ring and he waved Marley over. She stepped up on the steps and carefully entered the ring while Hunter held down the middle rope for her.

"Guys, this is Marley Allen and she's going to be working with you guys for the next few weeks. She's working on being a backstage interviewer and she's been on the road with us, interning for Renee. Something's are changing on the main roster soon, and we're looking to move her into a more permanent position." Hunter explained. "Marley, how about you let them know a little about you?"

"Sure." She turned her attention to the NXT roster. "Hi guys. I'm Marley. I'm 23 years old. I'm from Chicago. I just graduated from college, and like Hunter said, I've been interning for Renee Young. I've been around for a couple of months. I'm a regular NXT viewer, so I know how talented you guys are and I can't wait to start working with you guys." She said with a smile.

Hunter smiled and patted her on the back. "Alright guys, I've got a plane to catch. If someone wanted to show Marley around a give her the tour, that'd be great."

The both exited the ring and Hunter was out the door for his flight. Now she was left alone and she felt like she was going to be fed to a pack of wolves.

Luckily for her, that wasn't the case. As soon as she stepped down from the ring, she had everyone coming up to introduce themselves to her. She was very thankful that everyone seemed to be friendly towards her, even if it was just a charade.

Before she could register what was happening, Marley was engulfed into a hug. Normally, this would've freaked her our, but because she already knew all about these people, she knew exactly who the hugger was.

"Hey there, Bayley."

"Hi! Sorry about the hug, I just get excited when we get new people. It's like Christmas and you're the new shiny toy."

"Oh no. The hug was fine. I was expecting it. I wouldn't say that. There's literally no reason to get excited about me. I'm not a wrestler, I'm just here to interview wrestlers. I'm not important."

"Well I'm excited that we have a new face here and I'm here if you need anything."

The two girls talked for a little while longer and Bayley had invited her over to watch Raw with the roster. It was a thing they did every week where someone would host Raw on Monday and someone would host Smackdown on Friday. This week it was Bayley's turn to host Raw.

It was refreshing to see that most of the NXT roster got along really well. Just because their characters might not like each other, it was nice to see that they could all hang out together. You wouldn't see that on the main roster.

After going back to her hotel to change out of her dress and into shorts and a t-shirt, she made it Bayley's with fifteen minutes to spare.

When Marley arrived, she was pulled into another bone crushing hug from Bayley. "Guys! I invited Marley" she announced and Marley waved to everyone. She thought that she'd feel awkward around these people, but she felt right at home.

It was the Raw after Payback, and since Marley hadn't talked to any of her friends today, she didn't know what was happening tonight. It was going to be fun watching Raw as a fan for the first time in a few months.

As 8 o'clock rolled around, everyone piled into the living room. Bayley, Alexa Bliss, Tyler Breeze and Adrian Neville sat on the couch. Sasha Banks took the recliner and Marley, Charlotte and Sami Zayn on the floor. They didn't mind though.

The end of Raw was coming up and so far it had been a pretty good episode. The only thing left now was the main event, Roman Reigns vs Randy Orton.

Motörhead's Line in the Sand started playing and Hunter accompanied Randy to the ring. "Does he ever walk around the performance center, threatening you guys with that sledgehammer? I feel like he would." Marley joked and everyone laughed.

"In case you haven't figured it out yet, what I do better than anyone is adapt. Last night was plan A." Hunter brought the sledgehammer in front of his face and looked up at it. "Tonight. Plan B. There's always a plan B."

Roman and Dean stepped forward, but Seth didn't. Instead, he stepped back with his steel chair and swung at the back of Roman.

The room went silent. Everyone sat there with their mouths wide open and watched as Seth Rollins beat down his former partners. No one could believe what was happening.

The group sat there speechless until Raw had gone off the air.

"What the hell was that?" Sasha was the first to break the silence.

"I don't know, but I'm about to find out." Marley pulled out her phone and opened up a new text message to Seth.

**_"What the fuck dude?"_**

She figured she wouldn't get a reply until he probably got back to the hotel, so she'd have to wait. She considered sending a text to Dean and Roman, but she knew that they'd be in no mood to talk right now. So she texted one person she knew was still backstage.

**_"How are they doing?_**" She sent to Renee.

_"It's rough stuff. I just interviewed Seth for Backstage Pass. He didn't say anything. just be glad that you're not here tonight. As soon as Dean and Roman got back here, they were super quiet. It was erie._"

Marley couldn't imagine what that the atmosphere was backstage and she was thankful that she wasn't going to have to deal with it. She definitely didn't want to leave Florida now.

* * *

**AN: This was a filler kinda. I've had a mental block and I just couldn't think of anything. I was finally able to churn this out. Now we can see where we're at in the story, timeline wise. So yay! Haha. I know it's kinda short, but I just wanted to get this out ASAP. **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I only own Marley. **

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It was Tuesday afternoon and Marley had her first official day as a member of the NXT roster under her belt.

They had her attending promo class with the rest of the roster and they even let her mock interview a few people. One of those people being Tyler Breeze. She was having a difficult time keeping a straight face with that one.

She would ask him basic questions like, "If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be?" He then proceeded to go on a long tangent about how he'd go to dinner with himself because he was the only one worthy of being in the presence of someone so gorgeous and that if she did something with her wardrobe and hair, she might be able to join him.

Luckily for her, his wrestling persona was just his personality turned up to a thousand and he didn't act like this all the time. She didn't know if she'd be able to handle him if he was like this on a daily basis.

She did a few more mock interviews with a few others who needed interview practice and then they called it a day.

Marley was going to come in tomorrow and practice interviewing more people. They were going to let Devin Taylor have a break and let Marley do the backstage interviews for the NXT tapings on Thursday, and she wanted to make sure she was completely prepared.

After they were done for the day, Charlotte and Sasha had invited Marley over to their apartment to hangout. The girls thought it was a great idea and would help them bond with Marley better. She was thankful that everyone had welcomed her into their little family so quickly.

"The only thing that sucks about this week is that we're going to have to see Renee on Thursday." Sasha spoke as Charlotte nodded in agreement.

"Do you guys not like her or something?" Marley sat down with the girls on their couch.

"We tolerate her. I can't wait for you take her place though. You're way cooler than she is and you're making a name for yourself the right way." Charlotte declared.

Sasha cracked open a bottle of wine and poured everyone a glass. They all sat there gossiping while Clueless played on the TV on front of them. They had planned on having movie marathon, but gossiping and getting to know Marley had become their main concern.

"Wait. What do you mean by I'm making a name for myself the right way?" Marley asked. She hadn't really heard anything bad about Renee, besides what Nattie had told her. And even that wasn't _bad_, it was just unprofessional.

"You didn't hear this from us, but apparently Renee sleeps around to get ahead. Which, that's not any of our business or anything. The girl can get ahead anyway she sees fit, but when she starts acting like she's better than everyone down here, then we have a problem."

"She acts like she's entitled to things around here. You'd think she was sucking Hunter's dick or something." It was funny hearing Charlotte talk about people thinking they were entitled to things. You'd think she would act like that because of who her dad is, but she didn't give off that vibe at all.

"She might be." Marley nearly spit her drink everywhere at Sasha's comment.

"Is that why you guys stopped hanging out with Summer? Because she hangs out with Renee?"

"Nah, not really. We just kinda grew apart from her and it seemed like she didn't want anything to do with is anymore since she made it to the main roster."

"It's funny that you guys mention all this because Nattie mentioned something similar to me." Marley set her empty wine glass down on the coffee table in front if them.

"Do tell. Our lips are sealed." Charlotte grabbed the bottle of wine and poured more into Marley's glass. She thought that the more she had, the easier it would be to get the juicy gossip from her.

"She just mentioned that Renee had a few fuck buddies on the main roster and that she was very possessive over them."

"Oh yeah. I've heard that too. That's ridiculous. She doesn't own them. I can guarantee that the dudes they she's been hooking up with, haven't only been hooking up with her."

The three continued to gossip about things behind the scenes on the main roster and at NXT. Marley was learning things about the NXT roster that she never would've expected and Charlotte and Sasha were just excited to know who was single in the main roster.

The had finished off two bottle of wine and they were feeling it. Sasha seemed to be handling her alcohol better than Charlotte and Marley. She was definitely going to have to spend the night on their couch tonight.

"Y'know. Last time I got drunk, I ended up in Dean Ambrose's bed, so thank god it's just you guys."

"Wait, WHAT? You slept with Dean Ambrose?!" Charlotte nearly shouted for everyone in her apartment complex to hear.

"Technically, yeah.. I mean nothing happened. A bunch of us went out drinking one night. Renee left me in the hands of Seth at the end of the night, since we're cool and I guess he passed me off to Roman. Roman and Dean were sharing a room. I ended up in their room and I guess I passed out on the bed that just happened to be Ambrose's. No big deal."

"Does Renee know about that?"

"Not that I know of. Why?"

"Well you're already taking over part of her job, right?" Marley nodded. "Well now she's gonna think you're trying to take her dude."

"They're not even a thing."

"She's gonna think you're trying to single white female her."

"I don't even like him like that. I barely like him as a person. He's kind of an asshole."

"Uh huh. Okay. You're not a good liar when you're drunk."

"I'm not drunk!" She tried to convince them but they weren't buying it. "Okay, obviously he's attractive. That's not a secret. But he just rubs me the wrong way."

"So you want him to rub you the right way?" Sasha teased.

"Oh my god!" Marley covered her face with her hands. "That's not what I meant."

"It's totally what you meant." Charlotte teased and laughed.

"You two are ganging up on me. I don't like this. Where is Bayley when I need her?"

To say that Marley was nervous was an understatement. Ever since she woke up this morning, she felt like she was going to puke. She was having doubts about this job and she just wanted to turn around and go back home.

She spent all day yesterday practicing her interview skills at the performance center and even when she got back to her hotel last night, she stayed up all night practicing interviewing random objects in her room. "Lamp, how do you feel about mini fridge getting a title shot before you?" She was tired, nervous and regretting not having breakfast this morning.

She carpooled with Bayley and Alexa to Full Sail that evening and she was sure that if she asked the one more question, they were going to throw her out of the car.

"I'm sorry! I'm just nervous. I don't want to fuck up in front of these people."

"You're going to do fine. This is just NXT. If you mess up, which you won't, no one is really going to care." Alexa assured her. "Everything is going to be fine."

Bayley pulled into the parking lot of Full Sail. When she stopped the car, she turned around to face Marley. "Just remember to breathe. In through your nose, out through your mouth. Stay calm. We've all been through the same nervousness that you're having. Just stay calm."

And she did just that.

Everyone she interviewed made sure she was calm, cool and collected before she'd start their interviews and they all gave her assuring words. She was very thankful for that.

As soon as the tapings were over, Marley made her way back to the locker room. She hungry, tired and ready to go. When Marley entered the women's locker room she was quickly engulfed into a hug.

"Bayley, I can't breathe" Bayley pulled away and let the girl catch her breathe.

"You're such a great interviewer! You did great!" The other girls in the room agreed. "We need to go out and celebrate!"

"Thanks guys, but I'm not really in the mood to celebrate. I just want to get something to eat and go to sleep."

"Well luckily for you, we always go to Waffle House after every show. It's tradition and you have to come."

Marley couldn't pass up Waffle House. Waffle House was one of her favorite restaurants and she'd never be able to pass it up. "Fiiiiiiine." The girls cheered and they all filed out of the locker room.

Marley and Alexa were waiting by Bayley's car while they waited for her to finish signing autographs and posing for pictures.

"Imagine my surprise to find out that my intern has been moved down to NXT." Marley groaned as she turned around to face Renee. She had spent most of the night trying to avoid Renee, but when you're standing in plain sight, it's hard to avoid someone. "I honestly thought they got rid of you."

"Nope. Can't get rid of me that easily."

"Good to know.."

Alexa and Bayley finally made their way back to the car. The girls gave Renee a curt nod. "Ready?"

Marley nodded. "I'll see you later, Renee."

When the girls arrived at Waffle House, she wasn't expecting almost everyone to be here. She just thought it was something the girls did. She followed behind the girls who were making their way over to a table that was already occupied with Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville.

Marley climbed into the booth and sat next to Sami while Alexa and Bayley sat on the other side next to Adrian. A waitress brought them a few menus while she took their drink orders.

"You guys did really good tonight. It was cool getting to watch from backstage." She complimented them. The whole thing was surreal. "That last match with you two was probably my favorite of the night." She motioned between him ad Adrian.

"Thanks! You did a really great job of interviewing. I'm honestly surprised you didn't mess up, since it was the first time you've done something like that."

"Oh thanks. It's good to know so little people faith in me!" She joked. To be honest, she was surprised too. Every time she approached someone for an interview, she felt like she was going fumble over her words. This was different from what she was used to.

The waitress brought them their drinks and quickly took their food orders. Marley ordered a plate of chocolate chip waffles with a side of bacon. This is why she loved Waffle House. You can get breakfast food at any time of the day and you can also get regular food too. It was the perfect restaurant.

The group chatted while they ate their meals. It was mainly the group asking her questions about herself or asking her what it's like being in the road.

"Are you enjoying it down here, so far?" Sami asked her.

"Oh yeah. I love it. You guys have been really nice and accepting of me. It makes not want to leave."

The two were talking more about random things when Alexa elbowed Bayley in the arm. Bayley had been talking to Adrian about something and she turned to Alexa. "What?" Alexa nodded her head across the table at Sami and Marley. Bayley grinned at the two in front of her. She could help but think about how cute they looked together and she was going to make it her mission to get them together.

At the end of the night, Marley had exchange numbers with Sami and Adrian, after she suggested that they, including Bayley and Alexa, should all have a movie night tomorrow night after their house show.

They all agreed, but since Marley was living out of a hotel room, Bayley offered up her apartment. Bayley had no problem with having a movie night at her place, especially since it meant that she could get Marley and Sami to spend more time together.

##########

Marley entered her hotel room and immediately crashed onto the bed in front of her. She was tired, her feet were killing her and she just wanted to go to sleep. The first NXT house show of the weekend was tomorrow and she had promised Bayley that she would go and support her. It's not like she'd be doing anything else but hanging out in her hotel room. Which reminded her, she really needed to look into finding an apartment soon. Sure, the hotel was being paid for, but you can only stay in a hotel for so long without going crazy.

"I'm just going to rest my eyes for a minute." She kicked the shoes off her and curled up on top of her bed. Fifteen minutes later, she awoken from her power nap to the feeling of her phone vibrating in her hand. Before even looking at her phone, she answered it.

"Hello?" She answered groggily. She was thankful someone had called her and woke her up, that way she wouldn't actually sleep in her dress and have to wake up early in the morning to get a shower.

"You sound tired." The deep voice spoke from the other end.

"I am tired. Thanks for finally returning my call, asshole."

"Sorry.. I meant to call you back, but I've had my phone off since Monday night."

"I get it. It's fine. I've been busy anyway."

"So I've heard."

"Word travels fast around here, huh? Let me guess, it was Renee."

"You'd guess right."

Marley laughed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"She likes to gossip. Isn't that like a trait all girls share?"

She rolled her eyes. "I feel like you know nothing about women. Anyway, enough about me. What's it like being an authority stooge?"

Seth chuckled. "It's going to be fun, I think. I'm excited about it. Just wait until you come back on the road. You'll get to do interviews with asshole Rollins. You'll love it."

"Yeah, that's going to be fun." She said sarcastically. "How are the other two doing?"

"Honestly? I have no idea." He sighed. "We're supposed to be keeping up with appearances by not being seen together and stuff like that and I've had my phone off so I haven't tried talking to them."

"We all knew this was coming, we just weren't sure when. I think everyone expected Ambrose to turn on me and Roman, but I was a last-minute decision."

"Yeah, I feel like Dean would've made more sense, but I think it hurt more that it was you."

"Did you cry?"

She laughed. "Nah. I was close to throwing my phone at Bayley's TV though. I don't think she would've liked that."

"Probably not, kiddo. So you're making friends down there?"

"Yeah. I've mainly been hanging out with Bayley and Alexa. I did hang out with Sasha and Charlotte the other night, but other than that..."

"I'm surprised you haven't become friends with any of the guys down there."

"Eh. It's not that I haven't, it's just that I haven't really had the opportunity to become friends with any of them. I guess I'm kinda starting to become friends with Sami and Adrian? I don't know. It's easier for me to make girlfriends and not dude friends. Probably explains why you were my only guy friend."

"I'm not your only guy friend. You're friends with Rhodes and Barrett."

"Not really. They're friends with Renee. They were just nice and friendly to me because of her."

"Huh. You're friends with Ambrose and Roman though, right?"

"Unless you count me asking Roman if I can braid his hair, friendship.. then no. And don't even get me started on Ambrose."

"Weird. I would've thought than sleeping with him would've sparked a new friendship."

"Oh my god. It wasn't what it looked like at all. I slept in the same bed as him but I didn't _sleep_ with him."

"Suuuuure."

"I'm going to hang up on you."

"No you won't."

She sighed. "You're right."

"So, how long are you going to be at NXT?"

"I don't know. I'm supposed to be back by Money in the Bank, or at least that's what they told me. I think they want to wait for these episodes to air first, that way they can see how the fans react to me."

"They're going to love you. You just have a really likable personality. And you're easy on the eyes, so that's a plus"

The two continued talking for a little while longer before Seth let her go so she could get ready for bed.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you guys for reading and sticking with this story. I appreciate it soooo much. I had an anonymous reviewer (who forgot their login) who gave me a few ideas for somethings that are going to happen, so thank you!**

**if anyone else has any ideas or suggestions, let me know! And don't forget to review! (If you want to that is.)**


	8. Chapter 8

**_A/N: I own no one except Marley Allen. _**

* * *

_Friday, June 6th, 2014_

"You know, if you need to find an apartment, I might have something for you." Bayley spoke.

Marley had gotten to Bayley's apartment early and they had just been hanging out all day. The rest of the NXT crew, including her roommate Alexa, had a live event in Tampa tonight. However, Bayley wasn't scheduled to be there, which left her and Marley to hang out before everyone got back for their movie night.

They had really bonded since Marley got here and even though they hadn't known each other very long, it felt like they had know each other for years.

"Oh really?"

Bayley nodded. "My current roommate, Miss Bliss, is moving out soon to live with her boyfriend. And that leaves me with an empty room."

"That's very interesting." They were in the kitchen making snacks for tonight. Bayley was in the middle of making some healthy brownies while Marley sat on the counter, eating from a bag of baby carrots.

"I thought so."

"I might know someone who would be interested in being your new roommate."

"Perfect. Just let them know that the room is their's when Lexi moves out."

"You really want me to be your new roommate?"

Bayley smiled and nodded. "I don't like living by myself and I think we've gotten really close lately... And you can't just stay in a hotel room for the next month, plus you'll need somewhere to come home to when you're not on the road and yeah..." She rambled on and on.

"Bay, you don't have to convince me to move in with you. I'd love to be your new roommate."

Bayley picked the girl up from the counter and hugged her tight. "We're going to have so much fun!"

"We'll have more fun if you don't suffocate me first."

"Oh! Sorry!" She let go of Marley and set her back on the counter.

They heard the door open and the sound of three duffel bags hitting the floor. "Hey guys!" Alexa called out from the living room.

"I found some hitchhikers and brought them home with me. Hope that's okay." Alexa made her way into the kitchen with Adrian and Sami behind her.

"What did we tell you about bringing weirdos home?"

"They were just too cute to leave behind." Alexa stole a baby carrot from the bag in Marley's hand.

"If you guys need to shower or anything, the bathroom is in there." Bayley pointed in the direction of the bathroom.

"I'm good. I showered after the show." Adrian declared.

"I did too."

"Good. Now our apartment won't smell like gross boy." Alexa spoke. "And since neither of you need to shower, I'm going to hop in there really quick before we get this hangout sesh started." She excused herself.

"Alright, so what do you guys wanna do?" Marley was still sitting on the counter, swinging her legs off the edge.

"I've got some fun games we can play, like Cards Against Humanity. I've got movies. I've got alcohol and we can all get drunk and tell each other our secrets." Bayley put the pan of brownies into the oven and set a timer. "We can pretty much do anything that's not illegal."

"Personally, I like any idea that involves alcohol and games, but it's entirely up to you guys." Marley looked between the three people standing in front of her.

##############

"Alright, Nev. Fuck, Marry or Kill. Charlotte, Sasha and Becky. Go." The group had been nursing their drinks and someone had come up with the brilliant idea of playing FMK, or fuck, marry, kill.

"We said that nothing leaves this apartment, right?" The girls nodded. "Alright. I'd fuck Becky. Marry Charlotte and kill Sasha."

"You're obviously just marrying Charlotte to be Ric's son in law, right?" Nev nodded. "That's what I figured."

"Lex! Your turn. Fuck, marry, kill. The Shield."

"Okay, so. First off, I'm going to kill Seth, because even though he's my friend, he turned on his brothers and I can't deal with that. Next, I'd marry Roman. Mainly because he seems like the nurturing type and he'd mans a good husband. Lastly, I'd fuck Ambrose because he's the only one left and I think he'd just be really good at sex and I can just pretend he's Ryan Gosling or something." She rambled on.

"I can't believe you're going to kill Seth. He's the cutest one! You should've killed Dean!" Marley exclaimed.

"You can't tell me that you wouldn't have sex with Dean Ambrose if you got the chance."

Marley looked around the room, avoiding eye contact with anyone and staying silent. Not confirming or denying anything.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"I didn't say anything!"

"You didn't have to! Anyway, now it's your turn. Fuck, marry, kill. Neville, Sami and Tyler Breeze."

"Seriously? Two of them are sitting right here!" Everyone nodded. "Fuck it." She downed the rest of her beer. "Alright, so. I'm going to kill Nev here because I don't want to marry him or fuck him."

"Hey! I'd be a great husband or fuck." Everyone laughed.

"Next, I'd fuck Tyler Breeze, because hello! He's Prince Pretty. Which leaves us with marry. I thought about this long and hard, and Sami... I'm going to marry you."

"I guess I need to go get a ring then." He laughed.

"Yes you do. I like expensive, sparkly rings, just so you know."

"Good to know."

Someone decided that it would be a smart idea to play a game of Truth or Dare with a bunch of tipsy adults. That someone was little Miss Bliss, who was a lot further gone than the rest of us.

"Alright Bliss. This was your idea. You go first."

"Hmmmm.." She looked around the room before settling her eyes on the ginger fellow across from her. "Sami. Truth or dare."

"I don't really want to know what kind of dares you could come up with in that little drunk head of yours, so I'm going to go with truth."

"Chicken! Alright. What is your worst fear?"

"Laaaaaame" Marley called out.

"I wasn't expecting him to pick truth!"

"Always be prepared. It's like you've never played this game before."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway Sami. Worst fear. Go."

"Uhhhh, I guess dying young. I don't know."

"I feel like you guys would have that fear because you're wrestlers. That's a justified fear." Everyone nodded.

"Nev. Truth or dare."

"Since I'm not a chicken like you, mate. I'm going with dare." A loud "Oooooh" came from the girls.

"Alright, Alright. I dare you to let Bayley draw a mustache on your face and you can't wash it off while you're here."

"Fine."

"Yes!" Bayley exclaimed. She sat down in front of him, marker in hand and went to work. When she was finished, she stood up and showed her masterpiece to the room. "Tada!" She handed him a mirror so he could see the damage.

"I think I look better than I did before."

"Definitely." Bayley snapped a photo of her work and sat back down.

"Bayley, since you just drew all over my face, truth or dare?"

"I don't want to think about what kind of dare you'd come up with, so I'm going with truth."

"You guys aren't any fun. If you were invisible for a day, what would you do?"

"I'd follow you guys around and knock random stuff over."

"That's not surprising at all."

The group continued playing a few more rounds of the game. It was getting late and everyone's brains were starting to shut down. They needed sleep.

###############

After playing dumb drinking games, the gang decided to head off to bed. Bayley had offered her couches to her three guests, while she and Alexa would go off to their own rooms.

The girls had declared that the boys would stay over since everyone had been drinking. No one was really drunk, they were buzzed at the most and probably could've made their ways home but Bayley refused to let that happen.

"Alright, how are we doing this?" They looked between the two couches and the three of them.

"Oh, one of those couches pulls out into a bed, if that helps any." Bayley informed us before she retreated into her own room.

Marley looked between Adrian and Sami. "I'm just going to go ahead and call one half of the pull out couch. You two can flip a coin or something to decide who gets what."

"You're okay with either of these options?"

"Oh yeah. I trust you guys not to grope me in my sleep or anything. I've shared a bed with much worse before. You guys are fine. I should be asking if you two are okay with this."

"I'm fine with it."

"Me too."

"Alright cool. I'll just let you guys figure that out and I'm going to borrow some pajamas from Alexa and find out where they keep the blankets."

Marley left the guys in the living room to decide on who would share the bed with her. They guys decided on a simple coin flip to determine who would be the winner.

Adrian threw the coin in the air while Sami called it. He picked heads which left Adrian with tails. The coin was caught and flipped over.

Adrian looked up at Sami. "It's heads, mate."

He nodded. "I'll take the couch with Marley, I guess."

Marley appeared in the living room with a couple of huge blankets and pillows in her arms. She had changed into a pair of shorts and one of Alexa's "Property of WWE Performance Center" shirts. Her long, brown hair was pulled up into a messy bun on the top of her head and her face was now makeup free.

"Alright. Who was the lucky winner?"

Sami raised his hand. "That would be me."

"Aw yes. My future husband. Perfect." She looked at Adrian. "No offense, Nev. I'm sure you're a great bedmate."

"None taken. You're missing out though." He winked.

"I think I'll live." Marley and Sami removed the cushions from the couch and pulled out the bed. After setting it up to their liking, the crawled into the couch bed.

"I'm going to go ahead and warn you, I'm a cuddler. So if you feel something latch around you, please don't freak out."

He laughed. "I won't."

"Night, Nev!"

"Night, Mar!"

"Night, Sami."

"Goodnight, Marley."

Marley turned her back towards Sami and attempted to go to sleep. About an hour passed by and she wasn't having such luck. She could hear Nev snoring from the other couch and Sami appeared to be out like a light. She rolled over on to her back and let out a sigh. She had been having a tough time falling asleep lately. She usually wouldn't fall asleep until about 3 or 4 in the morning.

"Marley?"

She sat up and turned towards Sami. "I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

"Nah. I was already awake. You having trouble falling asleep?"

"Yeah. I've been having issues since I got down here. I've just had a lot on my mind, I guess. It's not a big deal though."

"Anything you want to talk about? I've been told I'm a really great listener."

"Not really. It's nothing important."

"You sure?"

She nodded. The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Marley spoke up.

"I'm scared of failing at this job."

"What?"

"I'm scared of failing at this job." She repeated. "I'm scared of people not liking and me hating me just because I'm not Renee Young."

She looked over at Sami who was looking up at her, waiting for her to continue.

"I'm worried that people are going to think I suck."

"You're not going to suck. You're going to be perfectly fine."

"You don't know that."

"No, I don't, but I can tell this is something you really want. I thought you did a great job last night and anyone can see that this is something you're passionate about."

"Thanks, Sami."

"You're welcome, Marley. And anyway, if you suck, they'll just send you back down here and then you'll be with us forever." He joked.

"Oh great. More time with you nerds."

Honestly, the idea of staying at NXT didn't sound terrible. She had only been here a few days, but these guys felt like a second family already. She knew she had a few more weeks down here, but she knew she was going to be sad to leave them behind. Granted, she would be back by Wednesday and would be able to stop by for TV tapings and house shows, but it wouldn't be the same.

"Admit it. You love us. We're the coolest people you've ever met."

"Hey now. I wouldn't go that far. I've met some pretty cool people. Like Bad News Barrett. He's the coolest person I've ever met."

"It's the accent, isn't it?"

"Obviously. I could listen to that man read a phone book."

The two kept talking until the wee hours of the morning. Marley could see the sun starting to rise and peek through the curtains on the windows.

"Jeez. I'm never awake early enough to see the sunrise."

"Really?"

She nodded. "I like my sleep. Apparently not tonight though."

"C'mon." He got up from the bed and pulled her along with him.

"What? What are we doing?" She asked as she was being pulled towards the door to Bayley's balcony.

"Watching the sunrise." He said like it was the most obvious thing. The two stepped out onto the balcony and sat down on the bench that were out there. The balcony was bigger than she expected and Bayley had a cute little patio setup out here.

Marley snapped a photo of the sunrise and tweeted it. "MarleyAllen: I ended up staying up late enough to catch the sunrise this morning. #thelittlethings."

"Hey, c'mere and take a selfie with me." Although they were sitting on the same bench, they were kind of sitting away from each other. Not on purpose though. It just kinda happened.

"Ugh selfies." Sami made a disgusted face.

"Will you just come over here?" Sami wouldn't budge, and he'd just scrunched his face up in disgust at her. Since he wasn't moving, she'd scoot over to him.

She scooted down the bench and sat as close to him and she could get so he wouldn't try to escape. She had him squashed between the arm of the bench and herself.

"Alright. You're not going anywhere. Now just take a picture with me! I'm won't post it anywhere. I swear. And that rhymed so you know it's true." She looked up at him and gave him her best puppy dog eyes expression.

Sami finally gave in. "Fine, but only because you're cute." She opened up the camera app and held the phone out in front of them. She counted down from three and snapped the photo.

"Thanks, hubby." She reached up and kissed him on the cheek.

"You're welcome, wifey."

The sun had finished rising and was out for the rest of the day. The two walked back into the apartment and made their way back to the couch bed and as soon as Marley's head hit the pillow, she was out.

* * *

**AN: I'm a horrible horrible person. I know. School has been kicking my ass and I haven't had much time to do anything lately. But I'm back and I promise it won't take me this long to update again. I swear. In the mean time, review/favorite/follow if you'd like. You're also welcome to send me suggestions about what you want to see in this story. I want to hear from you guys! Also, yay I'm putting dates in here so it's easier to keep up with the timeline. I'm also going to go back at some point and rewrite the first few chapters. I don't know when, but that's something I'm planning on getting done and will let you guys know as soon as it's done. **


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